Ocean Man chief questions how pipeline leak wasn’t spotted sooner

Larissa BurnoufAPTN National News
The chief of the Ocean Man First Nation says a band member approached her after smelling crude oil for several days.

He found an oil spill in a slough on the band’s land near Stoughton, Sask.

Chief Connie Big Eagle wants to know how the leak could go undetected.

“The regulators from the Ministry of Economy have mentioned that. Why would it not have been spotted earlier?” said Big Eagle.

Tundra Energy has shut down their lines and were onsite cleaning up the spill within an hour said Big Eagle.

“Right now, my main concern is just looking after my community. My land and the environment and working in cooperation with everyone to get it cleaned up,” she said.

As of Wednesday morning, Tundra still didn’t know source of the leak and doesn’t know how long leak went on allowing about 200,000 litres of oil to spill. Officials reported most of the oil has been recovered.